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!Opportunity: |
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Strategic
Initiative
Selling off our shared environment
to the highest bidder is one of the radical Republican's greatest weaknesses.
Progressives can talk about each issue and make
headway over time, or we can talk in terms of a
strategic initiative to generate faster, broader
changes.
For example,
point to the immediate
need for environmental protection by talking about Poison Communities as a strategic initiative.
If people believe that the administration is
poisoning the air, water and land that their
children depend upon -- and they are -- we
guarantee that you'll get more than brief attention.
You'll make a larger ethical point and draw lasting
attention to the environmental disaster we now face.
That's the power of a strategic initiative.
If you're looking for a headline that shouts "Poison
Communities!" try this one (links to real
story):
"Unborn
U.S. Babies Soaked in Chemicals"
It's a provocative
headline that captures attention and truth. Be
bold.
Read this
article from Rockridge Institute about strategic
initiatives, then put the term "Poison Communities"
into the mainstream by "theme and repeat".
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"I think the
environment should be put in the category of our national security.
Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad.
Otherwise what is there to defend?"
Robert Redford, Yosemite
National Park dedication, 1985
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!Tip: |
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Spot
the weakness
The radical Republican shows its weakness by using "Orwellian language" which
is opposite of what is true. These are radical Republican lies, but they are also
opportunities for us. When you hear Orwellian language, George
Lakoff says "attack" with truth. Remember to avoid using their
language. Reframe instead by framing and repeating our values,
phrases and themes.
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Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
(beautiful writing, one of the most influential works ever written
about humans and the environment)
Silent Spring by Rachael Carson, the classic that brought us
the environmental movement of the 70's.
Toxic Terror, review of "environmental justice" and the
common practice of polluting the poorest communities in America
The Apollo Alliance
Crimes Against Nature by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Bush Versus the Environment
Q & A with
Robert Kennedy, Jr. (3-part series)
The
Greening of American Capitalism
How environmental values make good
business sense
Social Investment Forum
Socially responsible investing outpaces
the general investment market
Innovest
Ranks companies according to investment risk, but factors in
environmental and social responsibility
Lesson plans from DiscoverySchool.com...
Champions of the Land
Ecology
DVD
rentals
Winged Migration (stunning and beautiful)
Wild
Thornberries (children)
Learning guides from Teach with
Movies are available for the following...
Never Cry Wolf
Gorillas in the Mist
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Ohio's Cuyahoga River, pollution fuels river fire, 1969
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Our Shared Resources
and Life-Giving Environment |
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Position statement:
Democrats are defenders of our shared American wealth:
public ownership of our country's resources. This includes
defending against the pollution of our air, water, land
and the abuse of our natural resources. We
believe it is patriotic to protect our environment for
the benefit of future generations. We believe in
government setting ethical boundaries to keep a
polluting corporation responsible for its actions.
We develop new, clean energy sources to keep our
children safe and to add needed jobs to our economy.
By contrast, radical
Republicans believe that all of our public wealth should
be handed over to corporations so that an extreme
profit-motive can be pursued without restriction.
The result is a shift of our commonly-owned American
wealth to the privately-owned corporate sector.
Polluted, poisoned communities, depleted natural
resources and a barren landscape are merely business
by-products of the pursuit of maximum profits.
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Make "frame
sandwiches" using any of these values:
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Health
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Protection
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Security
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Wealth
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Safety
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Opportunity
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Spirituality
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Community
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Patriotism
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Repeat these ready-made frames:
"Put Kids
First"; "Environmental Patriotism"; "Global Warming
Crisis"; "Climate Crisis"
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themes:
Quality of life; Poison-free communities; Poison-free water/air/food;
America is more than real estate, we are a community; For our children's
future; Save our children's heritage; Protect our
common wealth; Respect our gift from God; Renewable
energy creates jobs; "Energy independence is Homeland
Security"; "Life-giving Environment";
"Unborn U.S. Babies Soaked in Chemicals!" |
| Reframe using these
concepts: "Poison
Communities" (this is a powerful strategic
initiative. Start with one poison to illustrate,
e.g. mercury. Repeat and promote!); We can't drill our way to energy independence;
"Hostile takeover of nature by Corporations";
privatizing our
natural wealth; "Liquidation" of our shared wealth for a
quick buck; "their short-term gain is our long-term
loss"; extinction is forever; We own it, liquidators
want to steal it; secret deals to steal our land, air
and water; "It's about losing our children's heritage";
"Can't sell the farm piece by piece in order to pay for
the groceries"; "Pro- Polluter, Anti-People";
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| Contrast
using these words:
"Pollution President"; "Polluters First, People Last"; "Cruel
Conservatism"; "Callous Conservatism"; "Republican
Robber Barons"; pirates; looters; profiteers;
liquidators |
| Avoid repeating these
words:
"Healthy Skies" reframe to "Dirty Skies Initiative";
"Healthy Forests" reframe to "No Tree Left Standing" or
"No Tree Left Behind";
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Know the tools in the
radical Republican tool chest:
1.
The Environment (original Luntz framing memo);
2.
Privatizing Clean Water
(PDF. Luntz memo revealing that corporate control of clean
water is on the to-do list);
3.
The Orwellian Language of Big Government
by the National Taxpayers
Union;
4.
The Radical Republican
Manifesto:
The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for
the New Traditionalist Movement by Eric Heubeck;
5. Frank Luntz Republican Playbook Searchable Text-Version;
6. "14
Words Never to Use"
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Quick facts*
(statistics reflect Bush Administration pro-polluter
environmental policy):
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Superfund cleanups of toxic waste fell by 52
percent.
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Fish-consumption warnings for rivers doubled.
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Fish-consumption advisories for lakes increased 39
percent.
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The number of beach closings rose 26 percent.
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Civil citations issued to polluters fell 57 percent.
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Criminal pollution prosecutions dropped 17 percent.
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Asthma attacks increased by 6 percent.
- Based on tests of 10 samples of
umbilical cord blood taken by the American Red
Cross, the report by the
Environmental Working Group cited an average of
287 contaminants in the cord blood, including
mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and the Teflon
chemical PFOA .
- Children who live in polluted
communities are five times more likely to have
clinically low lung function less than 80 percent
of the lung function expected for their age.
- Mercury has contaminated 10.2
million acres of lakes, estuaries, and wetlands and
415,000 miles of stream, rivers, and coastline.
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have
warned that one in 12 women of childbearing age
carry levels of mercury in their bodies that are
unsafe for a developing fetus
- A serving of farmed salmon has up
to 40 times the PCB levels in other foods. PCBs
cause cancer and were banned in the United States in
1976.
- EPA taking 75% fewer polluters to
court, major polluter cases down 90%
- The Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge will take 10 years to develop for 6 months of
oil.
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Bush repealed the roadless rule that set 58.5
million acres of national forests off limits to
industry.
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Bush administration has added the fewest new
endangered species to the protection list of any
president in the last 30 years.
- Bush opened 9 million new acres
of pristine public land to logging (Tongass National
Forest)
- One company, BP
AMOCO, now lobbying to drill in ANWR, was
responsible for 104 oil spills in Arctic waters
between January 1997 and March 1998. That's 104
spills in a little over 1 year.
- Recall the
devastating EXXON VALDEZ disaster of 1989, when
nearly 11 MILLION gallons of oil spilled into Prince
William Sound polluting over 1,000 miles of Alaskan
shoreline and waters.
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Sources:
National Resource
Defense Council
Union of Concerned
Scientists
NRDC:
The Bush Record on the Environment
Bush
Greenwatch
Truthout's
e-environment page,
bite-size overview of
environmental news
EnviroLink,
access to thousands of environmental resources and
current research
NRDC:
How curbing global warming can increase jobs in
America (PDF)
Environmental Working
Group:
Farmed Salmon and PCB's
Alternet:
Farmed
Fish, an Ecological and Health Nightmare
"Poison Communities" strategic initiative research
(begin with mercury, arsenic
and air pollution):
Environmental News Network:
Unborn U.S. Babies Soaked in Chemicals
The Poisoning of Minimata
PBS:
The Mercury Story
Turtle Island Restoration Project:
Got Mercury?
Mercury Calculator
Physician's Committee for
Responsible Medicine:
Bush warns of mercury danger, ignores solution
Environmental
Integrity Project:
Environmental
Integrity Project:
Air Pollution "Episodes" Poison Communities in 29
States
Union of Concerned Scientists:
Smog Chokes Much of California, Clearing the Air in
the San Joaquin Valley
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